Everywhere England go in France a tennis court is never far away. Next to their training base in Le Touquet is a club where Carlos Alcaraz honed his skills as a youngster and in preparation for Sunday’s match against Japan they have decamped to the famed Mouratoglou academy in the hills above the Côte d’Azur.
As a result, tennis fever has swept through the squad. The scrum-half Alex Mitchell is, by all accounts, the player to beat, but Max Malins is apparently proving to be a natural and giving him competition. Meanwhile, Steve Borthwick announced his side in the US Open room of a team hotel that also contains a grand slam area, but let’s not get carried away just yet.
